Both high-balance and jumbo loans can be conventional or non-conventional, meaning individual financial companies like banks or government agencies, like the Veterans Administration, can back the loans.
High-balance loans
If you are in a high-cost location, such as the Bay Area, you may have trouble finding any home with a selling price under the standard, national conforming loan limit. Instead, if the median home values in your area are at least 115% higher than the national median, you’ll have a higher local conforming limit and you could be eligible for a high-balance loan. Here’s a map of conforming loan limits by county.
Because high-balance loans still meet local limits, they are considered conforming loans. If you want to borrow an amount even higher though, more than 150% of the national limit, you’ll be looking at a jumbo loan.
Jumbo loans
Jumbo mortgages allow you to borrow more than both the national conforming limit and the high-balance limit for your area. But because they don’t meet either standard, they’re non-conforming loans.
Yet they can still be “conventional” or “non-conventional” — you can get a jumbo loan from private financial institutions and government agencies. Requirements are typically stricter, with higher down payments and higher minimum credit scores. A jumbo loan is the largest personal, residential mortgage you can get.
Conventional loans
You could potentially get any type of loan — “regular,” high-balance or jumbo — from a conventional lender. Conventional loans are mortgages backed by “regular” lenders — non-government entities — such as banks and credit unions.
Conversely, government agencies back non-conventional loans. Examples include:
- Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans
- Veterans Administration (VA) loans
- U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) loans
